Police taser man carrying toy gun

Metropolitan police officers fired a Taser nine times at a man sitting on a train in the belief he was carrying a weapon in his briefcase. The use of Tasers on a train comes as the commissioner of the Met police, Bernard Hogan-Howe, faces questions over his suggestion that more of his officers should be armed with the weapons.

Hogan-Howe said this week he wanted to see more Tasers in response cars and Scotland Yard has confirmed work is going on to review the availability of Tasers for its officers. Hogan-Howe was challenged about his statement about Tasers by members of the Metropolitan Police Authority on Thursday.

In an at times rowdy exchange, MPA member Cindy Butts urged caution saying: “We will see ourselves sleepwalking into a style of policing we have fought long and hard to move away from.”

But Jennette Arnold said she supported the use of Tasers. “If a Taser had been used in the incident with Mark Duggan [who was shot dead by police in Tottenham, north London in August] that man would be alive today,” she said.